This week the topic for The League is “comic books”. Yep, just “comic books”. I recently did an article about comic book covers that homage famous movie posters, so that idea was already burned. Fortunately, my draft articles are deep with ideas so I pulled this one out of the depths and fleshed it out a bit.

I love movies. I love comic books. I love comic book movies. We have tons of movies coming out BASED on comics books. But how about comic books based on movies? There are plenty of those as well. But what about comic books that are based on movies that never were made for whatever reason. Ahhh, that could be interesting.

Today, I’m going to talk about six undeveloped movie scripts that were turned into comic books.

Kevin Smith’s Green Hornet – These first two entries are probably the most high profile examples of unused movie scripts becoming a comic book. In 2004, Smith wrote a screenplay for a new film version of The Green Hornet. Much like the next script in this list, it was a reboot of the characters and the concept. Smith even announced that he intended to direct the feature as well. The project, however, died after the poor box office of Smith’s Jersey Girl. Dynamite Comics purchased the unused script and had Kevin Smith adapt it into a new Green Hornet comic series.

Kevin Smith’s Bionic Man (2011) – I talked about this series in my Bionic Reviews feature a month or so ago. Kevin Smith wrote a screenplay for a new Bionic Man movie back in the 90s. It was a reboot of the characters and concept of the Six Million Dollar Man TV series. It ultimately went unused. However, after the success of Smith’s Green Hornet title they asked if he had any other unused scripts to adapt. Smith pulled out the Bionic Man script and Dynamite loved the idea. They tapped Phil Hester to adapt the screenplay into a 10 issue story arc to launch a new Bionic Man comic series that is still being published to this day. It has also spawned a Bionic Woman comic series.

Frank Miller’s Robocop (2003) – During initial production of Robocop 2, there was a first draft script by one of the original Robocop screenwriters, Edward Neumeier. However, due to a writers strike he dropped out. One of the producers contacted Frank Miller to write the script as Miller was still riding the success of his Dark Knight Returns graphic novel. Miller wrote a draft that producers and studio executives labeled “unfilmable” and the studio had the script rewritten into what eventually became Robocop 2, the movie. In the early 2000s Avatar Press acquired the Robocop comic license and the publisher William Christensen, who owned a copy of Miller’s “lost” original screenplay, contacted Miller about adapting it into a comic story. Miller was enthusiastic and worked with Steven Grant to adapt his unused screenplay (which included notes for Robocop 3) into a story. Due to scheduling conflicts, Miller was only able to contribute some of the covers and not actually write or draw the interiors. The nine issue adaptation was published in late 2003.

One of the best things about being a fan of the movie maniacs is being able to dress up as them for Halloween. Let’s take a look at some of the costumes that exist for some of our favorite movie maniacs.

Back in 1987, Collegeville released a Freddy Krueger “smock” costume similar to the old Ben Cooper designs.

Throughout this very large flyer with tons of costumes, there are a plethora of zombies and super heroes, but only two movie maniacs. And I’m only talking about one of those maniacs this year. Check out in the upper right, costumes for Jason Voorhees and Chucky.

You don’t even see those costumes on the inside of the flyer, only on the cover. I’m surprised these two are featured. Remember, this flyer was in 2008. The Friday the 13th reboot wouldn’t happen until the following year and Chucky’s previous movie was in 2004. By contrast, Leatherface had his reboot prequel only two years prior, so of anyone, he should be on the cover. Just strange.

Next up is a current Party City flyer from 2012. Not surprisingly, the Avengers are all over this thing.

This flyer is a little better in that it has four movie maniacs. Three of which I’m covering this year. Here’s the full page of scary costumes.

The movie maniacs are mostly on the second row (Freddy, Jason and Michael Myers). You can also see Ghostface from Scream in the first row. Again, I’m surprised there isn’t a Leatherface costume.

Today I’m going to do another “mixed” article featuring all of the movie maniacs. So, let’s take a look at some vintage video games that feature the movie maniacs.

(Via AtariAge.com)
In 1983 Wizard Video Games released a Halloween game for the Atari 2600. It was based on the first Halloween movie by John Carpenter. In the game you play a babysitter trying to protect the children from Michael Myers.

(Via AtariAge.com)
Also in 1983, and also for the Atari 2600, Wizard Video Games released a video game based on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. In this game you take the role of Leatherface and try to murder as many people as you can while avoiding obstacles like fences and cow skulls. Yes, I agree, that sounds pretty awesome. Due to the violent nature, however, the game incited many protests and forced many store owners to put it behind the counter away from children. Despite this, I think it’s interesting that this is the only game I can think of where you take the role of the killer. I’m surprised that’s not done more today.

The first Friday the 13th video game was released in 1985 for the Commodore 64 and other computer systems. You play as a group of camp counselors protecting your campers from zombies and the occasional appearance of Jason. Screenshot courtesy of Giant Bomb.

There was a Friday the 13th video game released by LJN in 1989 for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It is famously considered one of the worst NES titles ever released. You have to love that box art, though. It’s gameplay is very similar to the 1985 computer game in that you control counselors who are protecting campers from zombies, crows, wolves and, of course, Jason.

In 1989 Marvel comics released the magazine Freddy Krueger’s A Nightmare on Elm Street.

The magazine had gorgeously painted covers by Joe Jusko. The interior art was in black and white and done by Rich Buckler and Tony DeZuniga. Tony DeZuniga also worked on the awesome MGM’s Marvelous Wizard of Oz magazine I’ve talked about before for my Oz series. The interior stories were written by Steve Gerber. The magazines were published around the release of Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child. At the time, comics were coming under fire for being too violent and Nightmare 5 was getting protests in LA for this very reason. This general backlash caused Marvel to decide to cancel the magazine after issue #2. Marvel wasn’t receiving pressure from anyone and the magazine actually sold fairly well, Marvel just wanted to avoid any problems so they quietly folded the magazine.

It’s a shame the magazine was canceled. The story was pretty interesting. The first issue even has a few pages devoted to its own version of Freddy’s origin involving Amanda Krueger’s entrapment, beating and rape within the walls of a mental hospital. The art is pretty good too, especially in the first issue. The second half of the second issue, though, the art becomes a little uneven and a little inconsistent. Sometimes it’s nicely inked and sometimes it looks like pencil drawings. A little weird.

Check out two samples of the art. On the left is a nicely inked page from early in the issue and on the right is a page that looks more “pencil-like” with very little inking. You can click the images to see them BIGGER.

It goes on like that for the last 10 pages or so. Sometimes only one panel on the page will have the “pencil” look. I guess they knew the mag was being canceled and just rushed it out. Which makes sense since the second issue of this magazine is extremely hard to find.

I did this last week for Jason Voorhees, so I’m going to do it again with Freddy. I reached back into my stash of vintage Fangoria magazines and pulled out a few that had covers and articles about A Nightmare on Elm Street or Freddy Krueger.

The first issue I found was Fangoria #62 from 1987. It has a cover story on A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and the reunion of Nancy and Freddy. It was probably published a few months after the release of the movie.

This issue also featured the Friday the 13th Part 6 article about the gory scenes cut out of that film that I featured last week.

Here’s the cover article about Nightmare on Elm Street Part 3.

It’s an okay, mostly fluff article about what the new movie is supposed to be about. There are a lot of good photos, though, as Fangoria was always really good about including those in their main articles. No really good inside info, though.

Week 3 of AWESOME-tober-fest 2012, day 2 of Freddy Krueger Week. Today I continue my look at the dream master in pop culture with the late 80s TV show, Freddy’s Nightmares.

Freddy’s Nightmares began airing in syndication in 1988. It was a horror anthology TV series hosted by Freddy Krueger. The show’s premise worked in much the same way as other hosted anthology shows like Tales from the Crypt (The Cryptkeeper) or Twilight Zone (Rod Serling).

The first episode, No More Mr Nice Guy, was directed by horror legend Tobe Hooper and featured an origin story for Freddy. Freddy is tried for killing children but gets off because he was not read his Miranda rights. The town forms a mob, catches up to him and burns him to the ground inside his hideout in an abandoned power plant. Throughout the series Freddy would begin and end the episode as the “host”. Some of the episodes of the series featured Freddy as the antagonist, but many of them only featured him tangentially or not at all.

The show ran for 2 seasons and has not been released on DVD in the US. However five episodes of the series were released on VHS in the mid-90s. The first three episodes were released on DVD in the UK, however, due to poor sales, all subsequent episode releases were canceled.

Welcome to Week 3 of AWESOME-tober-fest 2012. Week 1 was Psycho Week in which I looked at Norman Bates. Week 2 was Friday the 13th Week in which I looked at Jason Voorhees. This week is Nightmare on Elm Street Week. So be prepared for some Freddy Krueger goodness all week.

In the late 80s St Martins published two collected volumes of novelizations to the first 5 Nightmare on Elm Street films.Both volumes were under The Nightmares on Elm Street banner.

The first volume was published in 1987 and called The Nightmares on Elm Street Parts 1, 2, 3: The Continuing Story. It was written by Jeffery Cooper.

Here is a review of the separate stories.

A Nightmare on Elm Street – This is very similar to the movie. You get a few more insights into Nancy’s thinking. However, honestly, I think this version is a bit abridged. It’s just over 70 pages. It seems like it should be longer. I feel like there were a few dream sequences that were cut from this novel. I could be wrong because it’s been a while since I’ve seen the movie. I know some of the Freddy-Nancy dream chases were a bit different in this book. But it felt short. But it was good nonetheless.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge – This particular movie gets so much crap from Nightmare fans. I know I hardly ever think about it. It’s not bad, it’s just not good either. The book is similar to the movie. Interesting at best. It continues the idea that Freddy feeds on fear, which is really dropped by the movie version of Part 3. I also feel like this is an abridged version. Again, it’s about 70 pages. I’m not sure what, if anything, was cut because I haven’t watched this movie in years, but nothing really jumped out at me as being different.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors – This one was the most fascinating. The book is apparently based on an early version of the script so the characters are mostly the same, but the story is wildly different. Especially the aspects of the Dream Warriors’ powers. Kirsten is mainly unchanged with her powers and character. Kincaid is a large, streetwise black man, but his dream power is flight instead of super strength like in the movie. Joey, who was mute for the majority of the movie but only part of this book, was the one that was super strong. Taryn, instead of being a punked out rocker chick with no powers actually breathed fire in the book (so much more awesome). Jennifer could turn invisible or phase out and the kid in the wheelchair, Will, that loved fantasy role playing and had wizard like powers was actually stupidly named Laredo in the book and not in a wheelchair at all. But he had the same wizard powers. Also, gone is the subplot involving Nancy’s dad and the burying of Freddy’s bones. Kirsten still tries to kill herself in the opening and gets sent to the hospital. There she meets the other Dream Warriors. Nancy shows up similar to in the movie. Nancy and Neil Guiness (Gordon in the movie) have a romantic attachment/affair. We find out about Freddy’s origin not from Amanda Krueger’s ghost but from plain and simple detective work by Nancy (which I like better). Joey isn’t seduced by the nurse but an old high school crush. The big dream fight where Freddy kills some of the Warriors is a lot bigger and more grandiose. Laredo (Will) actually has a pretty awesome shape-shifting fight with Freddy where he turns into a fire breathing dragon. If filmed, it would have been pretty epic as opposed to the lame fight that’s in the movie. Pretty much everyone dies. Kincaid, Taryn, Jennifer, Joey and Laredo (Will). Oh and Nancy dies killing Freddy. Kirsten and Neil are the only ones left. Somehow, Kirsten keeps Nancy alive in the Dream World and Neil visits her every night when he sleeps. It’s weird, honestly. The book ends similar to the movie in that Kirsten’s model Elm Street house has a light turn on. As if Freddy’s not dead. In many ways, I liked this story better. Especially the end battle between the Dream Warriors and Freddy. Plus, the themes from the first movie about Freddy feeding on fear and to defeat him you must take away that fear are more prevalent. However, with the novel, you don’t get the Dokken theme song, but I guess you can play that while you read the book.

At the end of the book there’s a short story that supposedly tells the “origin” of Freddy Krueger. It’s not really considered canon by anyone involved with the movies. And that’s fine because it’s not very good.